3.5E Nehaschimic Dragons

Well, since we never got official versions of the other two Nehaschimic Dragon types mentioned in the Epic Bestiary (Volume 1), and since I had experience working out the numbers for such a beast (namely, the Firmament/Brane Dragon), I decided to make versions of the Black Hole Dragon and Quasar Dragon for my own use. I'm not sure how closely my versions will/do match what UK himself had in mind for them; these are my own creations based on the clues I have (mostly, the lines mentioning them in the Bestiary). Hopefully other people who wanted to see them will find these useful- and if UK is willing to specify how his versions are different, perhaps we'll have official 3.5 versions yet.

Since UK's moving on to all-4E design, and doesn't seem to have started much dragon work yet given how the first monster book is a Vampire Bestiary, I trust I'm not stepping on any toes here. My versions are of course 3.5 since that's what I run (more or less).

As the singularity draws closer, space pinching itself out of existence in front of you, you get the unnerving impression of motion. With time pinching out along with the space ahead, the vast singularity is all you can see before you, expanding to fill all the existence you have left. It is not until you notice the suspicious regularity of the six lobes of the "accretion disk" (could those be... wings?) that you recognize the serpentine shape of the event horizon itself- which is now unfolding and extending a large forward portion like some sort of mouth or head- towards you. By then, you realize, it is far too late.

Singularity Dragons live between Spirit and Matter, a joining of base flesh and enlightened transcendence into a nightmarish whole that simply consumes everything it comes across to fuel its own monstrous growth. Usually they spend their (subjective) time in self-contemplation in the pocket realities that exist behind the event horizons of the black holes they so resemble, but once every few million years some cosmic cataclysm or similar event occurs which draw their attention to the universes they otherwise barely touch. Sometimes Singularity Dragons come into conflict with Time Lords or other similar Eternal beings their contemplations show them, but usually they are wise enough to find ways to avoid such confrontations since they are aware that their own power is far less than those great beings'.

Combat
A Singularity Dragon nearly always opens combat with a breath attack, in the hopes of consuming as much energy/levels from its opposition as possible and simultaneously inflating its own powers further. Such dragons prefer to use their breath more than any other weapon at their disposal, and will use other abilities largely in an effort to eliminate any resistance opponents may have against that attack. When fighting opponents who are somehow able to resist the breath weapon and its Dead Zone (resisting the one is usually not possible without resisting the other, as the dragon well knows), a Singularity Dragon will rely on using delaying tactics to give its Extra-Dimensional presence time to work. Once it is large enough relative to its opposition, the dragon can be confident of victory.

Alter Reality (Su): Singularity Dragons can use their insanely powerful control over matter and energy to twist and warp reality into any desired form. Once per round, as a free action, a Singularity Dragon can duplicate any spell of a level equal to or less than its number of Automatic Metamagic Capacity feats + 9. This ability can even duplicate Epic spells of a DC up to the dragon's Spellcraft skill modifier + 20.

Breath Weapon (Su): A Singularity Dragon's breath weapon is a cone of annihilation and consumption which sucks in life force and matter to fuel the dragon. This permanently annihilates a number of the victims' hit dice or levels, 24d20 + 1d20 per age category of the dragon, and the dragon gains a (unnamed) bonus on armor class, attack rolls, checks (ability checks, caster level checks, skill checks, turning checks), difficulty class (for any special abilities, spell-like abilities, spells), initiative, saving throws, and Spell Resistance, equal to the number of levels/HD annihilated this way. The bonus lasts one hour before fading away (leaving the dragon hungry for more). Annihilation permanently removes the victim's HD or levels: the lost HD or levels can only be restored by an appropriate infusion of experience points. Immunity to Energy Drain or level loss is not proof against this effect, but it provides partial protection: such creatures only lose half the rolled number on a failed save. All targets ("immune" or not) are allowed a Reflex save against the breath weapon, and if successful lose only half the indicated number of levels (or one quarter for those with Energy Drain immunity).

Damage Reduction (Ex): A Singularity Dragon's Damage Reduction is only penetrated by weapons made of antimatter.

Dead Zone (Su): Singularity Dragons, by their very nature, suck in all matter and energy near them. This creates an area of Dead Magic around the dragon that extends to a radius of 3500 feet plus 500 feet per age category. This area of Dead Magic is not "true" Dead Magic, in that it is really an effect of the dragon sucking in all magical force near itself; therefore, the dragon's own spells and supernatural abilities are completely unaffected. Beings with a Divine bonus equal to or higher than that of the dragon are able to resist its pull enough to continue using their own spells and supernatural abilities without interference, though they must still contend with the dragon's normal immunities (for example, to all sub-Epic magic).

Extra-Dimensional (Ex): Starting after the first round it is encountered, a Singularity Dragon begins to expand to fill its opponents' perception of their universe. This bestows an additional Virtual Size Category each round on the dragon.

Mind Warp (Ex): The Singularity Dragon's all-consuming presence can pull in even the thoughts of creatures that get too close to it. This presence extends to 2560 feet per age category of the dragon. Creatures within this radius failing their Will saves against the listed DC go permanently insane; their minds are no longer able to comprehend or perceive anything but the dragon itself as they fall to their doom in its maw.

Transdimensional Fortitude & Reflexes (Su): Singularity Dragons exist between the dimensions of Spirit and Matter. They never fail Fortitude or Reflex saving throws.

Adventure Ideas:Low-Cosmic: Rumors reach you of a city, somehow suspended inside a Singularity Dragon, populated by beings who survived being swallowed by its vast maw.

Mid-Cosmic: A Singularity Dragon loses its ability to use its breath weapon, and realizes that this is because the power has been stolen by another entity using it as a shortcut to transcendence. Can it reclaim the stolen power? A more interesting question may be, should it be allowed to?

High Cosmic: A Great Wyrm Singularity Dragon begins hunting and eating others of its own kind, for reasons known only to itself; others scattered across the universe begin to gather/mobilize for war.

That's my version of the Black Hole Dragon. It's a truly nasty customer, though it does bear an uncomfortable resemblance to the Void Dragon (given what concepts the two are tied to, I suppose this was inevitable). I hope I've made it different enough to be interesting- the idea that the dragon's hunger (gained from Matter) is used to fuel its own growth (from Spirit) was a great hook to hang abilities on, I thought. UK chose those dimensional associations very well.

I do have a problem with these, though, and that's the fact that all of them (and, really, all non-Demiurge at this level) are glass cannons. If the breath hits, they win. If their breath is negated, they have almost no chance of winning.

Evil Eye renders the breath nearly obsolete, as does his superior Dead Zone.

Transversal + Cosmic Consciousness is basically auto-screw for the dragon.

Transcoporeal negates it's (no doubt mighty) melee

Unreal handles its Alter Reality

And 600 attacks a round @ 10d1000 +60,000 +1d1000 per target's Divine Rank 10-20/x10 with Ultimate Weapon Focus and Ultimate Power attack make a mockery of this thing's HP.

And if not, well, Time Dilation +Astro Effect +Rectify neutralizes a threat of even this scale with ease.

Now, far from bragging, or even calling this thing weak, I mean to bring up a conundrum in the system at this point.

Against a Demiurge, this dragon is utterly outclassed in almost every imagineable way.

Against a First One, it'd be a miracle if they even got a round before the BHD annihilated them.

Same thing with the Adamics, honestly. They pwn Immortals and get owned by Sidereals.

Kind of makes these things difficult to use, since there's not really a level bracket where they're a good challenge. They're either a 1-round TPK or they get 1-shotted.

Of course, Khorvanis' job is to say "get out of my universe, you degenerate piece of temporal trash!". Being 250 ECL higher than his divine template throws his CR a little out of whack, I think.

A decent solution might be reworking ELs at that level to be based around a 1-character party, rather than a 4. A party ECL 550 First Ones might be closer to that narrow margin than a single Stage II Demiruge. (who's ECL is almost identical to the GW BHD's).

Then, though, we have the issue that, flavor-wise, this thing SHOULD devour First Ones, shouldn't it?

Oh, well. It's still awesome, regarldess. I actually like it better than the Nexus Dragon.

Any tease for the Quasar's breath? Drain Divine Ranks, maybe?

EDIT: Went over it a little more closely, and even assuming it got the drop on Khorvanis somehow (let's not dwell on the specifics) and was able to get in range to use its Breath without hitting K's Dead Zone (or ignoring it since K is DvR 96), he gets socked for 35d20 HD Annihilation.

Which sounds like a ton.

Except,

a.) Khorvanis is Nebulous, so 50% he just ignores it.
b.) Evil Eye makes it 35 HD off of 480.
c.) With a +988 Reflex Save, K takes 1/2 damage, as in 17 HD.

And then he kills the miserable sod. With 1 of his 600 attacks per round, which, thanks the BHD's egregious Divine Bonus deals a miserable amount of damage. +240d1000, to be exact. And if he doesn't crit, it takes another shot to finish the beast.

So, we have one of two conclusions to draw.

The BHD needs to be meaner to justify a CR that high.

Khorvanis, as an Avatar of the Time Lord, is even stronger than his CR suggests, despite it being 200 points higher than a normal Demiurge of his HD. (This is entriely possible. He has over half the Transcendental Ability list on his character sheet.) In which case, I should probably throw together a bog-standard Stage 3 Demiurge (4 boring Artifacts and only 128 Divine Abilities) and see how it compares to the BHD.

Khorvanis, as an Avatar of the Time Lord, is even stronger than his CR suggests, despite it being 200 points higher than a normal Demiurge of his HD. (This is entriely possible. He has over half the Transcendental Ability list on his character sheet.) In which case, I should probably throw together a bog-standard Stage 3 Demiurge (4 boring Artifacts and only 128 Divine Abilities) and see how it compares to the BHD.

This (the emboldened area) is where you lost me; no Stage II Demiurge should be able to have that many transcendental abilities.

One transcendental ability is worth six cosmic abilities, while one cosmic ability is worth six divine abilities; hence, one transcendental ability is worth thirty-six divine abilities.

Now, there are fifty-four transcendental abilities in Ascension, meaning that Khorvanis has at least twenty-eight.

A Stage II Demiurge has ninety-six divine abilities from its template (and no others, since divinity templates do not stack), which is equal to 2.667 transcendental abilities.

Now, Khorvanis would have four artifacts that he could give up to gain more abilities instead. Each artifact sacrificed would be worth a number of divine abilities equal to his divine bonus (+96). So if he sacrificed all four, he'd have three hundred eighty-four divine abilities. Adding that to the ninety-six from his template, and that's a grand total of four hundred eighty.

Four hundred eighty divided by thirty-six comes out to 13.334, or very nearly one-quarter of all listed transcendental powers.

Now, he could gain more if he sacrificed feats also (since six feats equals one divine ability), but that'd mean that he'd need to give up two hundred sixteen feats per transcendental ability. If he has the minimum number of Hit Dice for a Stage II Demiurge (480) then he'd have one hundred sixty-one feats, which isn't enough. If he had the maximum that a Stage II Demiurge can have before hitting Stage III (639), then he'd have two hundred fourteen feats total...two shy of being able to buy even one more transcendental ability.

It should be noted that this doesn't take into account a Stage II Demiurge's Dimensional Mastery abilities it gets automatically from its template (which are transcendental-level powers), but even so, that'd be just three of the six abilities listed.

Hence, even though no other aspects of his build have been taken into account, it seems to me that Khorvanis is overpowered.

I also hope U_K chimes in to add his thoughts/notes on this, since it'd be great to get "official" nehaschimic dragons.

One thing I wanted to ask, the Epic Bestiary notes that all nehaschimics gain a bonus cosmic ability that stacks with itself at each age category. What ability is that for the singularity dragon?

There both is, and isn't, one. UK "cheated" a little bit with the Nexus Dragon, in that its Interdimensional is supposed to be its Cosmic- but of course Interdimensional is Trans instead. Also, the version the Nexus Dragon has is considerably weaker than the regular one, but it keeps improving with age category.

For the Singularity Dragon, I couldn't come up with a Cosmic I liked, though I almost went with Abrogate. I was afraid that would make it too much like the Void Dragon, though. What I did instead, when I decided to "cheat" the same way, was create a sort of weakened Dead Zone (also a Trans as the normal ability) by saying that critters with a Divine bonus above the dragon's can get around it. The regular Dead Zone doesn't say that, it's absolute. Also, the regular Dead Zone just covers the immortal's divine aura; in the dragon's case I chose to have the ability approximate a Medium-range emanation (100 ft. + 10/level). It doesn't correspond exactly because I saw it was tracking close to the number I used in the final version, and decided to make the math simpler.

If somebody can come up with a better Cosmic for it, I say great! The present ability works very well flavor-wise, but isn't entirely tracking with the "one Cosmic per age category" rule as you noted.

And of course, Belzamus is correct in pointing out the "glass cannon" nature of these dragons. Of course, as has been pointed out in other threads where I mentioned my current games, pretty much every monster I've used against my players has proven to be such a thing- and I'm fairly sure that's not a fluke. My players are powergamers, true, but we tweaked our house rules so as to severely nerf a lot of the big system breaks in Epic levels (for instance, we made Multispell a Divine Ability rather than an Epic feat- that's just one minor example).

Uses of monsters become more about the flavor and less about the actual combat at these levels, I think. You want to have the players be heroes and have fun taking out the world-ending threat when necessary, but it's better to have them waiting around as antagonists that rarely (if ever) put on an actual appearance. If they do show up, have groups show up. Solo monsters just can't last in these levels. Combat is fast and brutal, and frequently one-sided, at these heights; whoever goes first nearly always wins (and in fact, as you yourself pointed out, nearly always one-shots the enemy). The thing is, this is true of everybody. So combat becomes increasingly rare, because nobody wants to be ambushed and killed- and if one side starts something, well, the other side's counterattack can almost certainly wipe out side 1. In situations such as that, diplomacy is a better means of resolving conflict, because that way everybody gets to live.

Quasar Dragon Pt. 1

Here it is. An actual quasar is just a supermassive black hole at a galaxy's heart that happens to be in a phase of actively consuming matter and spewing jets of radiation out along its poles; it is the jets that we see when we look at quasars and end up wondering what could possibly produce a radiation source that bright and powerful. This was, for obvious reasons, not a great hook to hang a monster on, after the one I just posted a couple of hours ago at the start of this thread. So, I went a slightly different direction- as you'll see.

Somehow, in the blaze of light and energy before you, you are able to discern a vast serpentine shape, glaring brilliant white, blue, yellow, and other colors like the power of a thousand suns. It unfolds six incredible wings like arcs of black lightning, against the glare, and turns its head towards you. Or rather, it turns away and looks at the space behind itself. Or was it that... wait, how did it do that? You wonder this to yourself as the creature somehow manages to apparently move in several directions at the same time, moving out to fill more space than its body should be capable of covering- and continuing to do so as you watch. Wherever this thing came from, it seems to be rapidly making itself at home in your reality! If this keeps up, soon you won't have any reality left except this beast...

Quasar Dragons exist between the dimensions of Thought and Time, both a union of laws and the utter lack of laws, and mundanity with insanity. Living between moments, in the unreal spaces that are what's left when one frame of reference shifts to another, these creatures' mad exuberance normally only touches existence in the brief instants immediately following the birth of a new universe. Occasionally, however, ill-advised experiments and attempts to breach the bounds of time create rips that allow quasar dragons a way into normal existence, bringing with them in their glee a whirlwind tide of energies and powers that threaten to burn reality out like a spent candle. They are the smallest and weakest of the known Nehaschimic dragon breeds, but that does not make them any less terrifying to the unlucky cosmic beings who all-too-often have to clean up the mess when a Quasar Dragon arrives.

Combat
A Quasar Dragon relies heavily on its ability to take multiple turns, often spending its energy trying several different modes of attack on one opponent in the same round to see what works best. It makes an exuberant, almost manic foe, utilizing its mobility to maximum effect and coming at its enemies from as many directions as possible. Unlike most other Nehaschimic Dragon types, Quasar Dragons do not always rely on using delaying tactics to give their Extra-Dimensional presence time to work- they have so many actions to spend compared to most of their foes that even a semblance of delay is pointless, if not silly. The fact that so few beings in any universe are able to survive the incredible energy of their breath weapon means that they usually try to breathe once, if not many, times during a given round, once seriously determined to win a fight.

Alter Reality (Su): Quasar Dragons can effortlessly pull unreal things from the dimensions of Thought into more-mundane reality. Once per round, as a free action, a Quasar Dragon can duplicate any spell of a level equal to or less than its number of Automatic Metamagic Capacity feats + 9. This ability can even duplicate Epic spells of a DC up to the dragon's Spellcraft skill modifier + 20.

Breath Weapon (Su): A Quasar Dragon's breath weapon is a cone of divine energy, brought forth from the infinite font of creation within itself to blast destruction upon its foes. Creatures caught in the area take 1d1000 points of divine damage per 2 hit dice of the dragon, as the incredible energy is beyond anything a mature universe (or creatures native to it) can withstand. Creatures caught in the blast are allowed a Reflex saving throw for half damage.

Damage Reduction (Ex): A Quasar Dragon's Damage Reduction is only penetrated by weapons without any enchantment whatsoever- any magical enhancement contains within it a connection to the higher dimensions of Thought, thus allowing the dragon a measure of immunity to its effects.

Extra-Dimensional (Ex): Starting after the first round it is encountered, a Quasar Dragon begins to expand to fill its opponents' perception of their universe. This bestows an additional Virtual Size Category each round on the dragon.

Universal Insight (Ex): Quasar Dragons can use the infinite potential Thoughts which are part of their being to solve problems at an incredible pace- often pursuing difficult calculations along multiple possible paths of exploration simultaneously. A Quasar Dragon gains an insight bonus to: armor class, attack rolls, checks (ability checks, caster level checks, skill checks, turning checks), difficulty class (for any special abilities, spell-like abilities, or spells), initiative, saving throws, and Spell Resistance. The value of this bonus is equal to 48 + 16/age category of the dragon.

Mind Warp (Ex): The Quasar Dragon's ability to exist and act in several places at once, even overlapping with itself in the process, is unnerving enough to witness. Combine this with the utterly insane and unreal things it constantly spews forth from the infinite wells within, thanks to its connection to Thought, and you have a recipe for insanity in anybody who actually encounters one. This presence extends to 2560 feet per age category of the dragon. Creatures within this radius failing their Will saves against the listed DC go permanently insane; their minds are utterly overwhelmed and burnt to blank slates by the glare of the dragon's endless energy and activity.

Time Dilation (Ex): Quasar Dragons are a union of Time and the infinite potentials of Thought, and they display this with an uncanny (and often terrifying, when witnessed for the first time) ability to literally perform several actions at the same moment. They can use the endless energy and matter constantly streaming from within themselves to actually create more time for themselves, whenever desired, and they can use this extra time to take more simultaneous actions than beings without their facility could ever hope to perform- even mutually contradictory ones such as traveling in two different directions at once, or singing a merry tune while simultaneously swallowing a hapless foe. When doing this, the dragon appears to "echo" physically, as if multiple images of the creature overlap in the same space while performing the differing actions. This ability allows the dragon to take one extra round of actions per age category, in every given round during which it has a turn. Thus, a Wyrmling Quasar Dragon can take two rounds' worth of actions each time it gets a turn, while a Wyrm could take 12 rounds' worth of actions in the same time.

Time Warp (Su): Quasar Dragons can manipulate time around themselves to an incredible degree, and use this ability to "look ahead" and make plans for the immediate future at every given moment. A Quasar Dragon gains a foresight bonus to: armor class, attack rolls, checks (ability checks, caster level checks, skill checks, turning checks), difficulty class (for any special abilities, spell-like abilities, or spells), initiative, saving throws, and Spell Resistance. The value of this bonus is equal to 48 + 16/age category of the dragon.

Transdimensional Reflexes & Will (Su): Quasar Dragons exist between the dimensions of Thought and Time. They never fail Reflex or Will saving throws.

Adventure Ideas:Low-Cosmic: The Cosmic Egg, an artifact of tremendous creative power, was left behind during/after the last visit of a Quasar Dragon to this reality. Now an intensely bright light has appeared in the skies, precisely where legend says the dragon was last seen.

Mid-Cosmic: A Quasar Dragon enters your universe, but pointedly ignores everything around it, instead apparently spending its time and energy crafting and birthing entire star systems with habitable (and inhabited) worlds. Now natives from the earliest of these star systems have begun to travel and explore the greater reality, exhibiting outlandish and terrifying powers (treat as Pseudonaturals, combined with whatever other templates might be interesting).

High Cosmic: A flight of Quasar Dragons, upset by the destruction of their progeny, gather to launch an attack upon Tamas, the First One of Entropy itself. Can they succeed in destroying it? What will happen to your universe if they can, and do?

The basic concept I went with here was that, as a living white hole, a Quasar Dragon would logically have an effectively infinite well of matter and energy constantly pouring forth from within for it to shape as it likes. The fact that one of its dimensional associations was with Time made the choice of Cosmic gained with each age category easy, as well as providing a reason for their insight bonus- look up the way quantum computers are able to perform the calculations they do and you'll have some idea what the Quasar Dragon is doing there. Finally, the ability to act along several potential paths at once gave me a good hook for the physical description, as well as why they have Mind Warp. Seeing a creature do six impossible things before breakfast (i.e., you), and furthermore doing them all simultaneously, would be enough to break anybody's mind- at least potentially. Hopefully, the beast meets with your approval.

Also, for the BHD, maybe giving it a real Dead Zone at Adult, since 6 Cosmics = 1 Transcendental, and a double strength Dead Zone or something at GW? I don't know. Most Cosmics don't stack terribly well.

Another issue is that none of the NHSCMC dragons have very good melee attacks unless they wait around forever with Interdimensional, which isn't really likely to happen. Macro-Tiny +5 VSCs just isn't that terribly impressive; natural attacks are almost a non-option for them. Maybe they should all have special effects added to them? Or is that stepping on the Adamics' toes too much?

Speaking of Adamics, any plans for those, Paradox?

Back to the Quasar, though, I thought the image of a two-headed dragon made of pure gamma, one end extending from each side of the white-hole, was kind of awesome. You're new take on them is pretty damn neat, though. (I still like the BHD the best)

Also, back to Khorvanis, 1.) I slightly exaggerated up there, he as has 18 Transcendental Abilities, 3 from Dimensional Mastery, along with 3 appropriate Soul Objects.

And I apparently did some calculations wrong, as his ECL now looks like 1,497; CR 998, which makes a bit more sense. Minus a bit for lacking a Portfolio, and that's just assuming his 3 swords are okay for his level (which is a total guess on my part.)

Also, I know how many abilities he's entitled to from his template, I was adding extras at a flat +36 ECL each.